I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication, and more specifically to techniques for searching for wireless communication networks.
II. Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, packet data, broadcast, messaging, and so on. These wireless networks may be capable of supporting communication for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. Examples of such wireless networks include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, and Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks. These wireless networks may also utilize various radio technologies such as Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA), cdma2000, and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), which are known in the art.
A wireless device (e.g., a cellular phone) may be capable of communicating with different wireless networks. The wireless device may perform a search to find wireless networks from which the device can obtain service. The search may be triggered when (a) the wireless device is not in service, e.g., at power on, (b) a user wants to obtain a list of available wireless networks, or (c) the wireless device is currently communicating with a wireless network that is not the highest priority wireless network. It is desirable to perform the search as efficiently as possible so that the wireless device can obtain service from a suitable wireless network, perform other necessary tasks, or go to sleep and conserve battery power.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to efficiently search for wireless networks.